Stylos is the blog of Jeff Riddle, a Reformed Baptist Pastor in North Garden, Virginia. The title "Stylos" is the Greek word for pillar. In 1 Timothy 3:15 Paul urges his readers to consider "how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar (stylos) and ground of the truth."

Tuesday, July 02, 2013

Thomas Vincent on the duties of wives and husbands flowing from the Fifth Commandment

Note: I am
continuing a Sunday afternoon series through the Baptist Catechism's exposition
of the Ten Commandments. Last Sunday's
message reflected on the wider implications of the fifth commandment
including the duties of wives and husbands to one another. In so
doing, I continued to lean heavily on Thomas Vincent's exposition of The
Shorter Catechism. Below is a summary of Vincent's listing of seven
duties each for wives and husbands:

Seven Duties of wives
to husbands:

First: Love
them above every other person in the world. In Titus 2:4 Paul told
the older women to teach the younger women “to love their husbands.”

Second: Loyalty
and faithfulness, in reference unto the bed and estate, and any secrets
intrusted with them. Hebrews 13:4 says, “Marriage is honorable in
all, and the bed undefiled.”

Third:
Reverence and fear of offending them. Ephesians
5:33: “Le the wife see that she reverence her husband.”

Fifth: Care to
please them, suiting themselves to their disposition, and all things to their
liking. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 7:34: “She that is
married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.”

Sixth: Helping them to bear their burdens, and in making provision
for their families. The ideal wife in Proverbs 31:27 is described as
one “who looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of
idleness.”

Seventh: Giving
ear to, and complying with, the counsels of their husbands, if good, for their
soul’s welfare; and endeavoring, with meekness and wisdom, with kindness and
loving admonitions, and a chaste, sweet conversation, to win their husbands
over to the ways of God, when they are wicked. He cites Peter’s words
in 1 Peter 3:1-2.

Seven duties of
husbands to wives:

First: Most endeared love to them, like unto the love of Christ to his
church. Ephesians 5:25: “Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.”

Second:
Dwelling with them, and, according to knowledge, honoring them, and
delighting in their company. He cites Genesis 2:24 about a man
leaving his parent’s household and cleaving to his wife. Also, 1
Peter 3:7 which says, “Husbands dwell with them [wives] according to knowledge,
giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel.” And Proverbs 5:18 which
enjoins husbands, “Rejoice with the wife of thy youth.”

Third:
Tenderness towards them, and careful provision of food and raiment, and
all things necessary for them, as for their own bodies. Ephesians
5:28-29: “So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He
that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh;
but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church.”

Fourth:
Fidelity to them in keeping the marriage covenant, so as to forbear the
use of any other besides themselves. He cites the prophet Hosea’s
words to his wife: “Thou shalt not be for another man; so will I be
also for thee” (Hosea 3:3).

Fifth:
Protection of them from injuries, and covering their infirmities with the
wings of love. He cites David’s care for his family (1 Samuel 30:18)
and Peter’s admonition that charity or love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter
4:8).

Sixth: Care to please them in all things lawful and fit, and praise of
them when they do well. 1 Corinthians 7:33: “He that is
married, careth for the things that are of the world, how he may pleaseth his
wife.”

Seventh: Prayer
with them and for them, counsel and admonition of them, and every way helping
them, especially in reference to their souls walking with them in the ways and
ordinances of the Lord. 1 Peter 3:7: “Ye husbands, dwell
with them according to knowledge, as being heirs together of the grace of life,
that your prayers may not be hindered.